


Even Kings Don't Live Forever

by HideAmongTheRoses



Series: The Notorious Kelly Mob [2]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe – Organized Crime, Blood, Canon Era, Canon Era Level Swearing, Drug Use, Drugs, F/F, F/M, Gambling, Gangster Katherine Pulitzer, Gun Violence, Guns, I'll tag more things as they come up, Implied Sexual Content, Implied Violence, Injury, Jack Kelly/Crutchie (One-sided), Jack Kelly/Crutchie (unrequited), Jack and Smalls are Siblings, Kidnapping, Let Newsies Say Fuck, M/M, Mafia Don Spot Conlon, Mob AU, Mob Boss Davey Jacobs, Mob Boss Jack Kelly, Multi, Murder, No Period-Typical Homophobia, Only by like three or four years but still, Organized Crime, Other, Smalls Kelly, Swearing, Turf War, Unhealthy Relationships, Violence, cause where's the fun in that?, explicit violence, fem!smalls, fem!sniper - Freeform, some period-typical racism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-12-18 04:40:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18242576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HideAmongTheRoses/pseuds/HideAmongTheRoses
Summary: The Kelly Boys have fought tooth and nail to get to the top of the food chain in Manhattan, but you don’t build a criminal empire without making dangerous enemies. Pinned between old rivals and new gangs trying to make a name, the Kelly Mob might have to risk everything they know and hold dear just to stay off the bottom of the East River.





	1. Chapter 1

From the morning bell to well after dark, the lodging house buzzes with activity. Someone’s always yelling at someone about something and young boys run underfoot while men not yet old enough to be men stand on the roof and talk business like they aren’t a wrong word away from someone tumbling off the edge. By late morning, things are in full swing, and today’s scheduled meeting is well underway.

Quietly, Davey Jacobs leans on the raised edge of the roof and watches as his partner slowly and methodically works out the details of one Kellan O’Hagan’s debt.

“It’s all I can do to scrape together the monthly payments, Mr. Kelly. As I’ve explained, if you can just give me another few weeks I’ll be able to get the money to you just like I promised,” the flustered businessman swears and Jack sighs, tapping his fingers against his leg as he takes a moment to think it over.

“What do you think, Dave?” Jack asks, turning to look at him. For a moment Davey just watches their prospective new client, letting him squirm, before taking a breath and answering.

“I think you’re holding out on us, Mr. Hagan,” he says, standing to better address the man. “You and I both know that five of the buildings along the docks belong to you, not just the two under your name, so your offer of a measly few hundred isn’t going to cut it,” Davey says, and he can’t help but smile as the man goes pale at the mention of the additional properties. “And while we’re on the topic, those three other buildings are under the names of your daughters, aren’t they? Do you have three daughters or four, Mr. Hagan?”

“Fo-, _hmm,_ excuse me. Four. And one-” he coughs out.

“And one son, yes, that’s right,” he cut him off. “Michael was his name, yeah? Sweet boy.” Davey’s smile was tight as adjusted his vest and slowly made his way towards Mr. Hagan. With every story he’d ever heard about Davey Jacobs running through his mind, Hagan backed away until his knees hit the edge of the roof. And then he had nowhere else to go as Davey came to stand uncomfortably close.

“I apologized earlier about the unconventional meeting place, Mr. Hagan, and I assure you that I meant it, but, you see, it makes business run so much smoother,” Jack says, stepping up with a smirk to box the man in.

“Your full payment will be due by the end of the week as always, Mr. Hagan,” Davey says, his expression cold, and his hand comes up to rest heavily on the businessman’s shoulder until he nods in agreement. There’s nothing subtle about the threat, but once they get their confirmation it’s like it never happened. Davey’s smile is perfectly friendly as he steps back and puts out his hand to shake. “Glad we could clear this up, Kellan. Our boys will be around to collect on Friday.”

And then, with practiced ease, Davey disappeared down the fire escape, leaving Jack to escort their guest out. For them, business was wrapping up, but across town, things were just beginning to heat up.

* * *

“You better not be dying on me, you sonova-“ Albert grumbles as he presses his bunched up shirt against Racetrack's bloody side. "Would be a waste of a good shirt." Race tries to laugh, but it turns into a wheeze as Albert presses harder, tying the sleeves to secure it in place.

“Oh, come on, Al. It ain’t that bad,” he says breathily and he gets a glare in return.

“Don’t you 'Al' me, idiot. Not when you’re bleeding out on the street,” Albert snaps, and this time Race really does laugh.

“Almost bleeding out,” he points out with a grin and Albert give him another look.

“Semantics," he grumbles, flexing his bloody fingers and looks at Race tiredly. "Am I gonna have to carry you back to the lodging house or do you think you can walk?" Before responding, Race just leans against the wall and frowns for a moment, taking stock of his injuries before shrugging. 

"Won't know till I try, I guess," he says, and he accepts the hand Albert offers him to help him to his feet. He's unsteady, but he manages to keep his feet under him with his arm over Albert's shoulders for support. "This isn't gonna work long, we better pick up the pace," he says and Albert nods and starts forward. "Are you okay?" He asks, trying to figure out a way not to think about the way his body throbs, but Albert apparently doesn't want to talk about his own condition.

"I'll be fine, come on. Elmer'll kill me if I show up dragging your unconscious ass again."

* * *

 

Smalls scrambles through the lodging house, weaving in between boys and girls and barely even acknowledging the disgruntled shouts echoing in her wake. 

"Mush! Where's my brother!" She shouts as she barrels down the hallway towards the boy in question and his eyes widen but he replies quickly.

"In the office, why?" But he doesn't get an answer as she runs right past him with a quick thanks, bolting up the staircase

The door is closed when she gets there, so she raps on the glass and practically vibrates with energy as she waits with her hand on the doorknob for permission to enter. A muffled shout from Jack is enough for her to go tumbling in and both he and Davey snap their attention to her. 

"What is it?" Davey asks immediately, looking around briefly for Sniper, who almost always inevitably followed the Kelly girl, but when he saw she wasn't there he rose from his seat, his concerned frown deepening.

"Race and Albert just got back and they're all sorts of fucked up," Smalls tells them, her words just a little too fast so Davey and Jack both can only blink at her as they try to process what she'd said, but as soon as they do they're moving towards the door and Smalls backs out to start leading the way.

 


	2. Chapter 2

"They're with Elmer?" Davey asks as they follow Smalls down the hall and she nods. 

"Yeah, they just got there," she says. "Tommy Boy had to carry Race inside cause he was out cold and Albert's arm didn't look right but Elmer sent me to get you before I could see anything more than the blood." Jack swears under his breath and puts his hand on his sister’s back to push her along and make sure she keeps up as his and Davey’s longer legs start to outpace her.

They don’t knock when they get to Elmer’s ‘office’ in the basement of the lodging house, but nobody flinches when they burst in. With the way the stairs creak and groan with every step, it’s impossible to get there without everyone knowing you’re coming. On the table, Racetrack is unconscious with a rag rolled up between his teeth and no shirt on as Elmer hunches over him to clean a wound on his ribs they can’t see from their place at the door. Off to the side, Albert is sitting tensely, teeth buried in his left hand to keep from screaming as Sniper sets the bones in his right. Tommy Boy stands against the wall, his normally cold expression pinched with worry as he watches Elmer work. Both boys are covered in blood and too much of it is Racetrack’s. 

“What the fuck happened,” Jack demands, looking from Albert to Elmer and back, but neither of them looks back.

“Give them a minute, Jack,” Davey says quietly but firmly, taking Jack’s arm and pulling back a little. “They can explain when Elmer is done.” Jack grumbles in response but doesn’t argue, dropping into one of the chairs that line the wall to wait. Silently, they watch as Elmer starts to sew Racetrack up and listen to Albert bitch and moan as Sniper tends to his hands. 

“Oh, quit your whining,” Sniper finally snaps after her applying alcohol to Albert’s hand sends him into another fit. “This would have been over sooner if you’d just accepted the belt to bite on. You decided to put your teeth in your damn hand, not me,” she chastises and he glares at her as she goes back to bandaging.

“I didn’t think it was gonna take you so long,” he says and she rolls her eyes.

“Ya think you’d have learned how long it takes, considering I’ve done this, what, eight times?” 

“Oh, shut up.” 

“Sniper?” Elmer cuts in and they both fall silent to look up at him. “Can you bandage Racetrack for me? I’m finished with his stitches.” She gives him a quick nod and gives one final tug at Albert’s bandage out of spite before going over to wrap up Race’s torso, much more gently than she had treated Albert. Smalls leaves her brother’s side to help her and Jack and Davey watch Elmer start to wipe the crusted blood off of Albert’s upper arm. 

“Race is gonna be fine,” Elmer suddenly announces to the room, not looking away from the slash wound hidden under all the blood. Tommy Boy and Albert visibly relax and Jack drops his head into his hands in relief. “He lost a lot of blood but it’s not the worst state I’ve seen him in. Few days rest and he should be back on his feet. I’d say a few weeks but I know even his own mother wouldn’t be able to keep him in bed that long.” Elmer turns his head up to give Davey a reassuring smile for just a moment but looks back down almost immediately when he presses an alcohol soaked rag to the wound and has to clamp down on Albert to keep him from thrashing. 

“Tommy Boy, can you help him,” Davey says and Tommy Boy nods, grabbing a clean rag off the counter and holding it out for Albert to bite down on before wrapping his arm around the redhead’s good shoulder and pulling him into a tight hold. Albert jerks hard when Elmer presses the alcohol to the wound again, but Tommy Boy is significantly stronger and barely budges, which makes it easier for Elmer to keep his sutures straight as he quickly sews up the gash. 

As soon as he finishes, Tommy Boy lets go of Albert and watches him double over, spitting out the rag onto the floor and swearing a blue streak. Over Albert’s dramatics, Elmer thanks Tommy Boy with a smile disproportionately bright to the situation and steps over to Jack and Davey, who still wait a careful distance away. Elmer’s a sweet boy, but he takes his work seriously and doesn’t tolerate people hovering over him.

“What’s the damage, Elmer,” Davey asks before Jack can burst a blood vessel.

“Whoever got the drop on them got Race pretty good with a switchblade, but it didn’t go in far so he’ll be fine. Albert says he hit his head pretty hard, so I’m gonna keep him down here for a few days to keep an eye on him. Albert’s the same he always is. A few fractured and broken fingers, nicks here and there. The one on his arm was the worst, so he should be back in action in a week or two. If you wanna talk to him now, you can. I’ve just gotta wrap his arm and then he can leave,” Elmer explains, and that’s all the permission Jack needs to stand and march across the room, dragging his chair with him.

“Alright, Al, spill it. What the fuck happened out there?” He barks, just barely avoiding slamming into Tommy Boy as he crosses the room. Tommy Boy had been moving to leave but stops to send a quick glance towards Davey, silently asking if he should stay to keep Jack in check. Davey sighs and looks back at Jack before jerking his head towards the door. He can go, Davey’ll handle Jack if it comes to that. When Jack drops his chair in front of Albert and resituates himself, Davey steps up to stand behind him.

“Race and I were just out by the Liberty Hotel. We weren’t doing shit, honest,” Albert was explaining, baring his teeth as he stretched his ribs. “No collections due today so we were just fucking around, but this group of idiots thought it’d be funny to run their fuckin’ mouths. We were just gonna give ‘em a soaking but then Race went and got himself stabbed and it just went downhill from there.” He puts all of his concentration into his explanation, but it isn’t enough to block out the pain as Elmer begins to clean and bandage the new stitches on his bicep. 

“It’ll only hurt for a second,” Elmer promises, frowning and trying not to think too much about the pain Albert is in as he does his thing. 

“Who was it you fought?” Davey asks, putting a heavy hand on Jack’s shoulder to keep his anger in check. What they did to make a living wasn’t stable or safe work and there had been countless incidents like this over the years, but Jack still hadn’t learned to control his anger and Davey couldn’t blame him for it. These people were his family and if Jack had one weakness it was his unwavering and vicious loyalty to family. 

“Some of those fuckin’ Soviet boys from Little Odessa we soaked last spring. And they’re getting fucking bold again, Boss,” Albert snaps, hissing through his teeth as Elmer finally ties off the bandage. Jack’s teeth are already grinding, but Davey grips his shoulder tighter and pushes him back into his chair when he tries to stand.

“We can’t take on Odessa on our own, Jack,” Davey tells him. Albert and Elmer are too distracted arguing about whether the wrapping was tied too tightly to be listening, but he keeps his voice low anyway.

“The fuck we can’t,” Jack growls back, but Davey stands his ground.

“When was the last time you went out to Brighton Beach, huh?” Davey asks. Jack frowns but doesn’t respond. “You’re always over here in ‘hattan, but I happen to know what’s going on over there. They’ve doubled since we soaked ‘em last. We can’t go out there alone, you gotta talk to Conlon. They’re in his turf anyway, I’m sure he could be persuaded to help.” Jack fumes in his seat but knows Davey is right. He’s quiet for a minute, and then the set of his jaw shifts as he makes up his mind. 

“Where the fuck is…” he mumbles, standing up and spinning on his heel, scanning the room before stalking over to the door and wrenching it open. “Tommy!” He barks up the stairs, “Get your ass back down here, I’ve got a job for ya!” 

The lodging house is a rather large building, but it only takes a moment before Tommy Boy’s answer can be heard from one, maybe two, floors above them.

“Hold your damn horses, I’m coming!” He shouts, and the footfalls that echo down the staircase reassures Jack enough to turn him back into the room, pacing from one end to the other as he waits for Tommy Boy to get there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A second chapter? So soon? I don't know man, it's been a weird week. This one is longer than the first, just like I promised, and each chapter should be longer than the one before it. 
> 
> Again, not beta'd, but I've got a beta situation in the works so I should hopefully have these edited and re-uploaded soon.

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter should be longer, I was just so excited to get this published!! I'm sorry it's later than I promised, college is rough. 
> 
> Find more of my Mob AU on my Tumblr, @rosie-anon! I write drabbles, reader inserts, and I'm always excited to answer any questions you might have!
> 
> I don't own Newsies, the characters, or anything of the sort, just the plotline and other original material used to create this alternate universe.
> 
> Not beta'd.


End file.
